Sunday, April 17, 2005

Frank Rich's War On Religion

The hatred Frank Rich shows toward the right is not news; neither is the fact that the New York Times is unabashedly liberal in their editorial viewpoint. What is newsworthy, and breathtakingly blatant, is the paper's anti-religious tone of late, with Rich in the vanguard. Again (how often must I say this?), Rich has taken up some of the world's most valuable editorial space with a complete rant against the right and wrapped it in religion.

As I've noted before, Rich accuses the right of being soaked in religion (as if that's criminal) while talking about nothing but religion in column after tedious column. In this latest atrocity, he skewers Tom Delay, of course, as well as a Jew of (oh, pardon the pun, but I can't help it) 'unorthodox' political views; i.e., he happens to believe in lower taxes. Rich engages in the most sophomoric syllogisms imaginable; see if you can follow the airtight logic here:

Jack Abramoff is a Jew. Jack Abramoff is an unethical lobbyist. Jack Abramoff is tied to Tom Delay. Tom Delay is a Christian. So what's the common denominator? I got it! Religion!!!!

If Frank Rich is a Jew, Christian, Muslim, or atheist, I couldn't care less. Nor could I possibly be less concerned with what house of worship, if any, Tom Delay attends. If Delay goes down, it won't be because of his religion; nor will the religion of any of his associates have any bearing on the matters at hand. If Frank Rich has some great revelation (no pun intended, this time) to show us about how it is Delay's religion that is behind his ethical troubles, than let him show his cards. If his point is that some Christians are hypocrites, well, blow me down, if that don't beat all....who would have guessed it?

I don't think Rich has an ace up his sleeve or anywhere near the table; I don't think he even has a pair of threes. What I do think, and I will continue to think it as long as EVERY SINGLE COLUMN of his takes shots at Christianity, is that he has a very, very deep antipathy towards religion and Republicans, and since many Republicans do tend to be religious, he sees deep, dirty plots wherever he turns. There is a term for this: it's pathological paranoia. Frank Rich is a troubled man, and the evidence is before the entire world, once in a week, prominently displayed in the 'paper of record'.